The present invention relates to systems and methods for providing cloud-based services and, in particular, to techniques for ensuring high availability for such services.
The term “cloud computing” refers to computing models for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services). Cloud-based services are rapidly becoming the primary way in which services are provided to businesses and consumers over the Internet and the World Wide Web.
Users of cloud-based services generally expect such services to be available any time, in any geographic location, and using any of a wide variety of client devices. These expectations of “high availability” present a number of technical challenges for providers of cloud-based services.